


Swan Song

by GingerBreton



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, King Alistair, Post-Blight, Short One Shot, The Calling, Tumblr Prompt, Warden Queen (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 23:11:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17590187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerBreton/pseuds/GingerBreton
Summary: Short one shot for tumblr prompt: Dreams, twilight, empty pathSet during Izzy's Calling and her search for the Cure.





	Swan Song

The dream was the same every night now, growing more difficult to bear the longer she was away, the further she travelled. It was always twilight, the evening stars starting to blink through the fading crimson sky. Behind her lay a path, winding endlessly through pink-tinged cornfields, stretching out beyond the horizon. At first the view ahead had been the same, but as days turned into weeks something dark emerged on the far horizon. A chasm. And every night the path led her closer. 

There was always the murmur of music, a quiet song she’d hum without realising for as long as she could remember, one she’d learnt from her father, and he from his. She didn’t realise it was calling to her, had always been calling her, until she heard the gentle whispers within the melody, and the song grew louder, more seductive. The Calling, bedded deep in her family’s warden blood, plaguing her kin with unexplained nightmares, but for her it lured her toward an early grave. 

She’d ignored it at first, the thought of telling Alistair was far more terrible than a few nights of lost sleep. She’d soothed him with lies, worries for the future, planning for the inevitable. But eventually the song’s insistence drove her from Denerim. Her fear sent her scouring Ferelden, combing the Frostbacks, hopelessly searching Orlais and beyond. Returning every few months with empty hands and a heavy heart. 

And then came the other song, one that jarred with the sweet melody in her mind, no lure, just demands. So different from the first. False. An affront to her senses. But then one night as they lay entangled in the darkness of the palace, he’d woken in a cold sweat. Never able to hold his secrets from her, he’d sung to her, the strains of the second song tugging at his mind. _It’s not real,_ she’d soothed, the momentary relief turning to horror when he realised why she knew the truth. He’d begged her to stay, tears mingled on their cheeks, one final night and she was gone before he woke. 

The chasm waited, yawning at her feet. She knew she must descend eventually, but she waited, like she did every night. One last look back, one last glimpse before she had to go on. And there he was, as the last of the light left the sky, looking just as he had when she met him, just as he had when she married him, with the same serenity on his face as when she’d left him sleeping that last night. She knew it wasn’t real, but the glimpses cut through the song, calmed her mind and kept her strong. A last loving look before she sank into darkness.

Stinging tears were her wake up call, as they were each morning. The sounds of Aedan packing up camp grounding her in cold reality. It was snowing here, in the foothills of mountains she didn’t even know the names of anymore. They were far to the west. 

“Dreams?”

She nodded, there was little more to be said. She took up parchment and charcoal, penning one last letter. 

“Are you ready?” 

With a final wistful look towards home, they turned and began their ascent.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> I made myself sad with this one :(


End file.
